


A Modest Celebration

by StellarWing



Series: A Dragon and her (Pegasus) Knight [6]
Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: Established Relationship, F/M, Family Fluff, Shigure's birthday, Social Anxiety
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-06
Updated: 2016-06-06
Packaged: 2018-07-12 15:13:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7110859
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StellarWing/pseuds/StellarWing
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's Shigure's birthday, and Corrin insists on throwing him a party.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Modest Celebration

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to include a lot more character interactions in this, but I ran out of time and I really wanted to get something out for Shigure’s birthday so here we are. I hope you still enjoy it!

Corrin had wanted to throw a huge party, involving every member of the army (and maybe a few random folks from nearby villages, just for good measure). She talked about brightly colored decorations and party games and so much food that even Effie would be full. The whole idea was frankly terrifying for Shigure, who could not possibly imagine being the center of attention at such a large and extravagant gathering.

Luckily his excitable wife had listened when he expressed a desire for a small birthday party involving only family, certain he could not stand the pressures of the gathering she had suggested. She seemed a _bit_ disappointed, but Corrin was nothing if not understanding, and she promised to come up with less intimidating plans.

Imagine his surprise, then, when he arrived to find at least fifteen people already there, waiting to wish him a happy birthday.

Momentarily frustrated with Corrin for ignoring his wishes, he took another look at the smiling faces and realized the fault had been his own. When he had said “family” he had pictured Corrin, Kana, his mother and father, and his little sister. He had not anticipated Corrin including all eight of her siblings. And their spouses. And their children.

Elise was the first to approach him, breaking into a run as soon as she spotted him. On her head she wore a brightly-colored cone of some sort, held in place by a string under her chin. She held out a orange-striped cone to him, grinning widely.

“Happy Birthday!” she cried as she practically shoved the strange hat into his hands, “This is yours! Put it on! Put it on!”

And then she stared up at him with wide, hopeful eyes, and he had no choice but to strap the silly thing onto his head. Elise cheered, then grabbed his hand and practically dragged him over to the others.

They had set up outdoors with two long tables covered in an assortment of food and drinks, and another table set apart from the others that was piled with wrapped gifts. Across the front of the gift table was a banner that read “HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHIGURE!” The letters were squished closer together near the end, as if the writer ran out of room, and there was a crude drawing of a dragon in one corner.

After taking him the most of the way to the tables, Elise released Shigure's hand and scampered off to pester Sakura. Corrin approached him, smiling. She was wearing a blue polka-dotted hat.

“What do you think?” she asked expectantly, reaching a hand out to him.

What could he say? How could he possibly tell her that his mention of “family” had completely excluded her side of it? It wasn't that he disliked any of the people gathered, but there were so many of them and there had been so little time to get to know them. Not to mention that a few of them could be rather abrasive.

Not that it mattered now. They were here, and he was not about to send them away. He would do his best to enjoy himself, for Corrin's sake if nothing else.

He took her offered hand, kissing it tenderly.

“It's lovely.”

Corrin beamed, and Shigure did his absolute best not to flinch when there was a sudden, excessively loud outburst of laughter nearby.

\---

Opening gifts was the worst part. _Everyone_ was watching him at once, and there was an extraordinary pressure to continue acting cheerful despite the creeping approach of social exhaustion. He got quite a few nice gifts - an impressive assortment of pastels, a new palette, several canvases of various sizes, and an expensive-looking pegasus bridle, to name a few - but he could not help the relief he felt when the ordeal was over. So ready was he to move on to something else that he did not notice Kana standing beside him with one more gift until he tugged on his sleeve.

“Papa, wait! I still need to give you mine!”

Kana was holding something behind his back, grinning wide. Seeing his son so happy gave Shigure a much-needed boost, and the smile he gave back was genuine.

“What do you have there?”

With all the pride and confidence he was capable of, Kana held up a painted canvas.

“Ta-da! I practiced lots and made this just for you!”

It was a rather juvenile depiction of Shigure and Corrin holding hands, with a dragon standing nearby that no doubt represented Kana. They all seemed to be standing in a nondescript green field under a blue sky with a large yellow sun. In the bottom-right corner Kana had signed his name in blocky letters.

In a technical sense it was a disaster, but it was clear how much effort and love had gone into its creation. Looking at it warmed Shigure’s heart, and his smile widened as he took it from Kana.

“I love it,” he said sincerely. “I will treasure it always.”

After the excitement of gift opening was over the party began to calm down, giving Shigure a chance to slip off to the outskirts of the activity and take a moment to catch his breath. As he watched the others mingle, he thought to himself that it was nothing short of a miracle that all of them were able to make time to come there. They were in the middle of a war, and many of them seemed to be constantly busy.

And then it finally struck him that all of these people were here for _him_. These were important people, not just royals but generals and strategists, people with a thousand more significant things they could have been doing. People with plenty of understandable excuses they could have used to not show up.

But they chose to be here, because it was his birthday. Because they cared.

Because they were _family_.

And though he was exhausted, Shigure didn’t mind when the party continued long into the night.


End file.
